Microsoft board backs Ballmer over Einhorn

Microsoft Corp’s board stood behind CEO Steve Ballmer on Thursday, defending its longtime leader after influential hedge fund manager David Einhorn touched off a debate by calling for his dismissal.

The fund manager, who made his name warning about Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc’s financial health before the investment bank’s collapse, accused Ballmer on Wednesday evening of being stuck in the past, launching the sharpest attack yet by a high-profile investor against the company’s leadership.

Einhorn’s comments, which echo what some investors have said for some years in private, caused a stir on Wall Street and helped Microsoft shares climb 2 percent on Thursday to US$24.67.

“His continued presence is the biggest overhang on Microsoft’s stock,” Einhorn told fellow fund managers at the annual Ira Sohn Investment Research Conference in New York.

Microsoft’s nine-person board, including chairman and co-founder Bill Gates, supports Ballmer, a source close to the board said on Thursday. Microsoft itself declined comment.

Gates, who co-founded the software company in 1975 and is still the largest shareholder with 6.6 percent of the company’s stock, is generally regarded as the one person who could make the decision to switch management.

“Bill Gates is a ruthless capitalist. If he wanted to, he’d walk Ballmer to the door himself,” said a fund manager at one of Microsoft’s largest shareholders, who asked to remain anonymous.

Gates, who spends most of his time on his philanthropic foundation, has given no indication he is considering a change. A representative declined comment on Thursday.

Other investors acknowledged Microsoft’s stock has suffered under Ballmer, but stopped short of calling for his ouster.

“I thought the board was firmly behind Steve and the only way Steve was going to leave was if Steve wanted to leave,” said Eric Jackson at hedge fund Ironfire Capital, which sold its position in Microsoft last autumn, -disappointed the company would not lift its dividend higher.

“I don’t see anybody else on the management team at Microsoft that I think would be much better than Ballmer,” Jackson said.

Whitney Tilson, founder and managing partner of T2 Partners LLC, which holds Microsoft stock, said Ballmer might be running out of steam.

“This dissatisfaction with Ballmer, with the company, is more than baked into the stock,” said -Tilson in an appearance on financial news channel CNBC. “When you’ve been the top dog so long, how do you become hungry again?”

Microsoft — the largest US company by market value in the late 1990s — has been overtaken by Apple Inc and International Business Machines Corp in market value and is no longer seen as a dominating force in technology after a failure to capitalize on Internet and mobile markets.

Before Thursday’s gain, the stock had been down 6 percent in the past two weeks after Microsoft agreed to pay US$8.5 billion for Internet phone service Skype, a move that mystified many investors.

Einhorn said it was time for Microsoft to consider strategic alternatives for its money-losing online business, which has so far failed to win share from Google Inc.

“Clearly, some people are calling for a change,” said Sid Parakh, analyst with McAdams Wright -Ragen. “If you look at the financial performance, that’s been fine. But I think the issue is broader than that.”